Azmin vs Zaid, the tussles that tarnished PKR

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Sep 26, 2010

PKR preaches democracy and fairness. It was the leaders first who decided to have a direct election system for members to choose their leaders, for which many Malaysians commended. However, what is the use of having an election if it is not fair in the first place?

By Low Teck Kuan

The recent ongoing tussles in PKR have all but tarnished PKR’s reputation

Firstly, the 12 local leaders who are aligned to Jeffrey Kittingan were all hauled up by the disciplinary board and and some punished for their attempt a year ago to form a new party, although there was a peace deal between them and the other PKR leaders

Then right after what was dubbed “the just decision” decided by the disciplinary committee, an alleged smear campaign against Zaid Ibrahim surfaced, with allegations such as “traitor” and “greenhorn” thrown at him to tarnish his reputation and credibility in the eyes of PKR members.

Around the same time a sudden press conference was called, and attended by various strong PKR leaders in the PKR headquarters. This was done to

demonstrate their endorsement and support on Azmin Ali, even though some leaders who attended this meeting claimed that they were not aware of the purpose of this press conference.

Azmin Ali

These occurred without Azmin himself indicating or declaring first that he is contesting for the vice deputy presidency. Were all these events intentional? Or is it done voluntarily by other quarters of the party without Azmin nor Zaid directing it?

If one were to doubt and noticed the “coincidental” events that came up one after another as above, he will find it hard to believe that either of the above’s camp, especially Azmin has no hands in it. Although we cannot say for sure that Azmin is involved, we also cannot deny the fact that these events tip the sentiments of the voters in his favour. In fact one can even suspect that his silence on his candidacy was intentional, so that the average members cannot pin point or blame the emergence of allegations and accusations on him as he did not (yet) declare his intention to contest.

Zaid Ibrahim

Nonetheless with the recent misinterpretation by FreeMalaysiaToday Azmin, instead of personally contacting “party member” Zaid to clarify what he said, took the opportunity to make a bold (but foolish) statement to the world, lambasting Zaid as arrogant for calling Syed Hussin “nyanyuk”. This action has surely confirmed Zaid’s entire allegation that there is an ongoing smear campaign against him. And now, without a doubt we can state with a high probability that it was Azmin who wants to discredit Zaid as much as he can, and it was his camp as well who were behind the smear campaigns.

I personally admire both Azmin Ali and Zaid Ibrahim as politicians. Azmin for his unwavering loyalty and persistence even when the tide did not favour PKR, and Zaid for his strong principles and good values that he showed when he was the Law Minister.

However that line of respect must be drawn when either one decides to go on a smear campaign to tarnish the reputation of another, or used underhand tactics to eliminate his competitor, or even attempt to encourage other leaders to declare support for him so as to woo the voters to his side. Simply put, a line must be drawn when the game of perception is not played fairly or with dignity and honesty.